10 Viruses That Nearly Broke the Internet

It’s only been two weeks since the security bug known as Heartbleed surfaced and crippled the Internet—affecting the Open SSL encryption software used on our favorite everyday sites and threatening all personal data transmitted through cyberspace. While new reports suggest the malicious program has mostly been fixed, the fact that Google and the NSA are being accused of knowing about it all along doesn’t make us feel any safer regarding what harm could come from future cyber threats.

Yet the Heartbleed virus isn’t the first to send the online community into panic mode. There were actually several other viral bugs that severely compromised the World Wide Web throughout the past three decades. Take a look at the 10 Viruses That Nearly Broke the Internet.